| REUK Shop | REUK Blog | Directory | About Us  |  | RSS Web Feed for Renewable Energy UK 

Basic Ammeters and Voltmeters



Basic Ammeters And Voltmeters

Find out how to monitor the health of your RE system's generator and batteries

electronics | storage | wind | solar
  Printer Friendly Version Print Article     

In even the most basic renewable energy system it is essential to monitor the charge in the battery bank, the voltage and current coming from the generator, and the current being drawn by the power inverter or other loads. In this article we will cover moving coil meters - the cheapest and simplest devices for displaying current and voltage in a system.

Moving Coil Voltmeters

The simplest way of monitoring the voltage of the battery bank is a moving coil voltmeter. These are available from around £5-10 each and can simply be wired to the positive and negative outputs of the battery bank. They do not need their own battery power since they take a tiny current from the batteries.

Analogue moving coil voltmeter

Pictured above is a 8-16 Volt DC Analogue Voltmeter which is perfect for measuring the voltage of a 12V battery or 12V battery bank.
NEW We have an excellent top-quality 0-30VDC moving coil voltmeter for sale in the REUK Shop.

Moving Coil Ammeters

Ammeters, used to measure the current flowing into or out of the battery bank, are also available for a wide range of different applications from micro-Amps (e.g. in solar cell experimentation) to hundreds of Amps (e.g. in large wind turbines). Pictured below is a 0-20A moving coil ammeter.

20A Analogue moving coil ammeter

Since the current flows into and out of the battery bank as the batteries are charged or discharged, the most suitable renewable energy system ammeters are centred on zero - a positive reading indicates that the batteries are being charged by the generator, and a negative reading indicates the batteries are being discharged.

Analogue automotive ammeter

Above is a photograph of an automotive analogue ammeter which shows currents from -200 to +200 Amps. This would have limited use in most domestic renewable energy systems except with very large wind turbine generators and multi-kW hydroelectric generators since the current range is so large - however there are many smaller range ammeters available - e.g. -20A to +20A which would be perfect for a small domestic wind turbine generator or solar installation.



Article Last Modified: 18:17, 26th Feb 2007

Comment on this Article

If you have any comments on this article, please email them to neil@reuk.co.uk.


Recommended Related Articles

People who read this article also enjoyed the following articles:

Make a Shunt Resistor
Make your own rough and ready shunt resistor
Article Last Modified: 12:52, 28th Feb 2007
electric circuit | education

AWG to Square mm Wire Size Converter
Convert between AWG, inches and mm diameter, and square mm area measures of wire size
Article Last Modified: 06:45, 19th Jul 2008
storage | electric circuit

What is a Shunt
Find out what is a shunt resistor and how it is used in RE applications
Article Last Modified: 12:52, 28th Feb 2007
electric circuit | education

Minimising Line Losses in RE Systems
Select wire of the correct diameter for your renewable energy system
Article Last Modified: 10:32, 8th Mar 2008
storage | electric circuit

Measuring the Capacity of a Battery
Find out how to measure the capacity of a battery
Article Last Modified: 10:22, 6th Aug 2008
storage | electric circuit | general

Solar Shed Lighting Calculator
Work out the specifications for a solar powered shed/garage/outhouse lighting system
Article Last Modified: 13:52, 11th Mar 2008
solar | storage | shopping | education

Equalization Charge
Find out about the equalization charge for lead acid batteries
Article Last Modified: 15:13, 19th Aug 2008
storage

Interconnecting Batteries for Battery Bank
Find out how best to connect batteries together into a battery bank
Article Last Modified: 13:53, 23rd Feb 2007
storage

High Current Voltage Regulation
Connect voltage regulators in parallel to increase the current which can be regulated
Article Last Modified: 17:16, 5th Dec 2007
electric circuit | electronics | general

Watts Up Meter
Track power usage, voltage and current with a Watts-Up meter
Article Last Modified: 12:24, 1st Aug 2008
storage | electronics | shopping | energy efficiency

© 2006-2013 REUK - All Rights Reserved
Page Last Updated on 25th May 2013 at 12:23:03pm

Recent
Blog Posts


1.Reducing Reflectivity of PV Solar Panels to Increase Efficiency

2.Low Voltage Disconnect with Display and Datalogger

3.Saudi Solar Power Boom About to Begin

4.Compressed Air for Storage of Renewable Energy

5.Offer of the Day – 80W Monocrystalline Solar Panel £71.98

6.Project of the Day – Wind Turbine Dynamic Blade Pitch Controller

7.Morocco Starts Vast Solar Energy Project

8.Follow Up to RC Helicopter Lighting Controller

9.Low Voltage Disconnect – User Programmable Set Points in Binary

10.UK Home Energy Smart Meter Project Delayed


Latest
Articles


New Simple Hen House Door Controller
Details of our new 2013 simple design for an automatic hen house door controller
electric circuit
11:45, 20th Apr 2013

Automatic Hen House Door Closer Opener
Find out how to put together a DIY automatic hen house door opener and closer
electric circuit
11:40, 20th Apr 2013

Butanol vs Ethanol Fuel of the Future
A brief introduction to Butanol/Biobutanol as an alternative to Ethanol
biomass
11:55, 19th Apr 2013

Cheap Pyroelectric Infrared PIR Detector
Details of a very affordable and flexible PIR motion detector
electronics
20:33, 16th Jan 2013

Heat Pump Tumble Dryer
Reduce power consumption with the latest heat pump tumble dryer technology
energy efficiency
20:16, 3rd Jan 2013

LED Spotlights
Find out about Energy Efficient LED spotlights
lighting
15:17, 3rd Jan 2013

Dimmable Energy Saving Lightbulbs
Find out more about low energy light bulbs which can be used with standard dimmer switches
lighting
14:36, 3rd Jan 2013

Review of Megaman Energy Saving Lightbulbs
Find out more about the Megaman range of CFL energy saving lightbulbs
lighting
14:08, 3rd Jan 2013



REUK Shop

Popular Items


REUK SUPER LDR DUSK DAWN RELAY CONTROLLER
Multi-function light detector triggered light/dark dawn/dusk relay controller
£19.95 each.
Complete Circuits



KARASOULI SCC 20 CHARGE CONTROLLER
20A rated wind turbine charge controller and dump load controller with blocking diode and heatsink
£43.95 each.
Renewable Energy System Parts



2013 SOLAR PUMP CONTROLLER WITH RELAY
New solar water heating pump controller with fitted 10A relay
£25.99 each.
Complete Circuits



REUK SUPER POULTRY LIGHTING CONTROLLER
Control up to 8 Watts of LED spotlights to stimulate egg production in birds
£29.99 each.
Complete Circuits



REUK SUPER TIMER 2
User programmable 12VDC powered 16A rated repeating relay timer. 1 second to 99 hours ON and OFF times
£23.99 each.
Complete Circuits



300 WATT POWER INVERTER
Convert 12V DC battery power into 230 AC to power portable televisions, computers, video recorders etc. 300 Watt power rating - peak power 600 Watts
£29.99 each.
Renewable Energy System Parts



CONVERTED PROGRAMMABLE DIGITAL TIMER RELAY
Mains powered programmable timer converted to low voltage with relay board
£21.99 each.
Renewable Energy System Parts



12 VOLT REGULATOR
Supply a fixed 12.0 Volt DC to your devices (up to 0.7 Amp output)
£4.79 each.
Complete Circuits



MR16 CERAMIC BULB HOLDER
Bulb holder for 12 Volt LED spotlight bulbs
£1.39 each.
Energy Efficient Lighting